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Hand Made COG Tags

Ever wanted your own COG tags? I hadn't ever thought about it. But then i decided to make some. I was inspired by a coglike thing i found in my garadge xP Inspiration comes from weird places no?
I wills how you a simple way to make some pretty sick COG tags!

Step 1: Getting Started!

now, because i was literally making this up as i went along, I'll give you tips, and methods, I tried, three different ways and only one worked (for me that is!) . But the good news is, once i got that one way to work i made a 2nd (okay so tehcnically a 3rd) in, about 10 minuets!

lets get started!

Things you'll need for this are:
1. Two flat washers (the size doesn't matter, it depends on how big you want them!)
2. A ruler
3. A peice of paper (mostly for note taking, and some pattern drawings etc.)
4.(this is optional, i'll explane why later xP) A Compass
5. One of those, weird beaded metal chain things xP Idonno what they're called. (see picture)
Things you'll aslo need, in the realm of tools are:
1. A bench grinder (or an angle grinder)
2. A dremmel with attatchments, especially ones for Engraving (which will be considered an optional step, but i thought it was fun) Grinding, and polishing.
Thats basically It for the tools, i tried hack saws and what not but that seriously messed up my first attempt at doing it! So gather your materials and we'll go from there!

Step 2:

like i said, i was making this up as i went along. The compass which, i realised was really redundant cause, i could just trace around the flat washer any ways. xP So as will become the usual, i'll let you guys know what i did wrong so you dont make the same mistakes.
BUT if you want to use it, its good to have any ways.

So what your going to want to do is, get your paper and trace the inner and outer circle of the washer. Simple enough.

Now i did some research...(IE i looked at my Gears 2 case and counted the prongs on the COG tags xP) and i found that there are 8 prongs on the COG tags. You dont have to do 8, but i wanted to make it as close to the game as possible.

The next thing you want to do is measure your washer like you see in the pictures!
Then on your drawing, divide the drawing in half, and then in half again! (so theres a + or a Cross in it) make sure its even though, so its best to find the exact center of the drawing before you start drawing! If you need to, you can round it off to the nearest w/e. its not a huge deal really.

Step 3:

Okay so when you've devided your Circle into 8 equal(ish) portions, divide your circle in half again(indicated by the little lines in the drawing.) and make another circle with those points as a reference. You can make 8 points if you want, i just went with two though. Maybe i like two, maybe i was lazy. who knows. =P

Any ways, the compass comes in handy for this. Believe it or not all this measuring will pay off haha. even though it sucks, just bare with me!

Okay! now erase the outter-most circle, but leave little fragments on the ends if you REALLY want to be pro, measure out the aformentioned things on the ends. I really cant explaine it much better. **Aaand as of now, i cant seem to get the image notes to work at all, so your on your own** any ways.

Now draw angles, your aiming to keep the circle as round as you can (IE, dont connect the ends and make it jagged.) If you need to, Google COG tags and get a picture so you can see what i mean.just a note, i didn't measure mine, i winged' it. it turned out pretty well all things considered!

Step 4:

now i erased the lines, and put an arrow marking the spot that was most off (in this case it was way bigger than the others. I personally ways way tired of measuring though, so perfection elluded me)

Okay so if your happy with the way your cog looks read on!

Cut out your paper cog, and lay it over the washer, this is your last chance to make adjustments, unless you want to fix the cog if it doesnt turn out right, or do it again. Its really truely up to you. I just wanted to move on, so i took what i had. I cut it out with my trusty xacto knife.

Next, allign it up to the washer and scribble the open spaces with the sharpie.

Now, we move into the workshop!

Step 5:

okay so regretfully, since nearly everything from here on required two hands, and i was working alone. I dont have alot of pictures sorry x . x

But i feel confident that i can explaine it to you! I personally found the workshop parts to be the easiest so be in good faith that you can do it without alot of pictures!

Moving on. I flipped the bench grinder on and after a few minuets burned my fingers xDSo i moved to a glove, but still burned my finger. So ***CAUTION: this thing gets REALLY freakn' hot*** So i switched to vice grips. NOW if you want the surface of the cog to be smooth untill you say otherwise, Get a cloth, and stuff the open space on the vice grip with the cloth, and clip the ENDS of the vice grip in the center of your washer, I was clipping the ends on the washer itself, and it left little indents, which made it tough later on to engrave properly.

Now just grind down, untill you've ground all your sharpie marks away. This really shouldn't take to long *note, in this picture I have the ends of the vice on the washer, not in the center (even though it kinda looks like it)** that was just an FYI. moving on!

Step 6:

Next, if you want to engrave anything heres where you do it!

Just as a note: If your going to polish it up, do it before you engrave, i did it after and ended up having to re engrave it x ... x

Now to engrave, and to make sure you get it right, take a fine point sharpie and write out w/e you want, On mine i put Coalition of Ordered Goverment (or COG for short) and then on the other side i put my name, date of birth, and blood type =P might as well right?

So...Thats basically it! Put it on a chain and wear it! thanks for reading! If you have questions, comments let me know, and i'll get back as soon as I can. OR if you want to share your own ideas on this prodject or send pictures of your successes w/e! feel free! Enjoy!

btw, because the image notes still arn't working for me, I forgot to tell you guys, the 4th picture on this step is of the one i tried to do with the hack saw, FAIL. Thats just me though xP

love the instructable. i made some of my own, i used a hacksaw and a few different types of files (my dad didnt want me to use a grinding wheel). mine are lighter looking than yours so i might darken them up using fire and lots of it. after that i will use letter punches to put my name on it and possibly my gamer tag. i made sure to make a third one to test stuff on.